After exhausting their resources in the slums of Los Angeles, a junkie and his wife settle in London's "murder mile," the city's most violent and criminally corrupt section. Persevering past failed treatments, persistent temptation, urban ennui, and his wife's ruinous death wish, the nameless narrator fights to reclaim his life.In prose that could peel paint from a car, Tony O'Neill re-creates the painfully comic, often tragic days of a recovering heroin addict.

The Long Season by James P. Brosnan has de*ive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

World War I was a bloodletting so vast and unprecedented that for a generation it was known simply as the Great War. Casualty lists reached unimagined proportions as the same ground -- places like Ypres and the Somme -- was fought over again and again. Other major bloody battles remain vivid in memory to this day: Gallipoli and the Battle of Jutland are but two examples. Europe was at war with itself, and the effect on Western civilization was profound, its repercussions felt even today.World War I saw the introduction of modern technology into the military arena: The tank, airplane, machine gun, submarine, and -- most lethal of all -- poison gas, all received their first widespread use. Professor Stokesbury analyzes these technological innovations and the war's complex military campaigns in lucid detail. At the same time he discusses the great political events that unfolded during the war, such as the Russian Revolution and the end of the Hapsburg dynasty, putting the social and political side of the war into the context of modern European history.A Short History of World War I is the first history of this war to be written in twenty years. It incorporates recent research and current thinking about the war in a highly readable and lively style.

When it comes to evolution, we've all heard about fossils and fruit flies, Darwin and Dawkins. But the idea of evolution is far more profound and far-reaching. Today, a movement of visionary scientists, philosophers, and spiritual thinkers is forging a new understanding of evolution that honors science, reframes culture, and radically updates spirituality. Carter Phipps calls them Evolutionaries. His groundbreaking book provides the first popular guide to these exciting minds who are illuminating the secrets of our past and expanding the vistas of our future.

Garden & Gun magazine's aptly named Good Dog column—which features true stories of canines and the humans who love them—is one of the publication's most popular features. Now editor in chief David DiBenedetto and the editors of Garden & Gun have gathered their favorite essays as well as original pieces to create this must-read collection of dog ownership, companionship, and kinship. By turns humorous, inspirational, and poignant, Good Dog offers beautifully crafted essays from such notable writers as P. J. O'Rourke, Jon Meacham, Julia Reed, and Roy BlountJr. From the troublemakers who can't be fenced in to the lifelong companions who never leave our sides, this one-of-a-kind anthology showcases man's best friend through all of his most endearing (and maddening) attributes.

For over two thousand years, unicorns have inspired, enchanted, and eluded humanity. The beast appears in Old Testament texts and Greek and Roman natural histories; Christians adopted it as a symbol of Christ, the Middle Ages as a symbol of courtly love. There was a brisk trade in unicorn parts in medieval and Renaissance times, and travelers regularly reported sightings into the modern era. But by the early twentieth century the real-life contenders for the beast had been ruled out, and scientists concluded that the unicorn never existed. It turns out they were a little hasty.Where did the unicorn come from, and how was it accepted as a part of the animal kingdom for so longChris Lavers argues that although the unicorn of our imagination isn't real, traces of its character can be found in existing species. In this lively and vivid exploration of the natural world, Lavers follows the beast's trail to the plateaus of India and into the jungles of Africa to unearth the flesh and blood ancestors of our iconic unicorn.Along the way, Lavers introduces the peoples, historians, explorers, traders, and scientists who believed in the unicorn, and describes their efforts to pin it down. Its changing status from one-horned ass to religious symbol to pure myth reflects man's journey from superstition to scientific understanding, ultimately leading to a greater insight into the natural world.

A New York Times BestsellerFrom Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist and leading Alzheimer's advocate Meryl Comer comes a profoundly intimate and unfl inching account of her husband's battle with Alzheimer's disease, one of today's most pressing and least-understood health epidemics.When Meryl Comer's husband, Dr. Harvey Gralnick, chief of hematology and oncology at the National Institutes of Health, began forgetting routine things and demonstrating abrupt changes in behavior, doctors were confounded as to what was wrong. Diagnoses ranged from stress and depression to Lyme disease, from pernicious anemia to mad cow's disease supposedly acquired from a trip to London. Finally, after years of inconclusive tests, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a seemingly impossible disease for a man in his prime.Comer gave up her television career and for the next two decades cared for Harvey in their home, tending to his every need while watching him regress into an emotionally distant and sometimes violent stranger. The man I live with is not the man I fell in love with and married,she writes. He has slowly been robbed of what we all take for granted the ability to navigate the mundane activities of daily living: bathing, shaving, dressing, feeding, and using the bathroom. His inner clock is confused and can't be reset. His eyes are vacant and unaware. In Slow Dancing with a Stranger, Comer brings readers face-to-face with Alzheimer's, detailing the realities, its stressful emotional and fi nancial hardships for families, as well as the limitations of doctors and assisted living and long term care facilities to manage diffi cult patient behaviors. With candor and grace, Comer chronicles her personal experiences her mistakes, her heartbreaks, her minor victories to paint an intimate and moving portrait of Alzheimer's and, in the process, she reveals the truth about the disease and everyone it affects.One hundred percent of the proceeds from Slow Dancing with a Stranger will support Alzheimer's research.

Sometimes I've taken home the trophy, sometimes I've stumbled or tripped over my own feet. But every move I've made has shaped me into the person I am today.Season after season, millions of fans tune into Dancing with the Stars to watch Derek Hough, the talented, consummate competitor whose skill and commitment have made him the show's all-time champion. Whether he's dancing with an Olympic gold medalist, an internationally renowned recording star, or a celebrated actress, Derek has an undeniable talent for bringing out the best in his partners. He does more than just tutor them in the fox-trot and paso doble he teaches them how to see beyond their limits and realize their true potential.Now, for the first time ever, Derek opens up about his transformation from bullied little boy to accomplished performer and coach who lets nothing and no one stand in his way. In Taking the Lead he details how his experiences have taught him to embrace a positive outlook, channel his creativity and drive, and face his fears head-on.From his early training in London beginning at the age of twelve, to grueling dance competitions around the world, to never-before-told stories from behind the scenes of Dancing with the Stars, Derek writes with honesty and insight about his extraordinary journey. And in sharing his own story, he shows all of us how we can take charge of pursuing our goals, overcome obstacles, and become winners not just on the dance floor but in life.

A decade ago Philip Connors left work as an editor at the Wall Street Journal and talked his way into a job far from the streets of lower Manhattan: working as one of the last fire lookouts in America. Spending nearly half the year in a 7' x 7' tower, 10,000 feet above sea level in remote New Mexico, his tasks were simple: keep watch over one of the most fire-prone forests in the country and sound the alarm at the first sign of smoke.Fire Season is Connors's remarkable reflection on work, our place in the wild, and the charms of solitude. The landscape over which he keeps watch is rugged and roadless it was the first region in the world to be officially placed off limits to industrial machines and it typically gets hit by lightning more than 30,000 times per year. Connors recounts his days and nights in this forbidding land, untethered from the comforts of modern life: the eerie pleasure of being alone in his glass-walled perch with only his dog Alice for company; occasional visits from smokejumpers and long-distance hikers; the strange dance of communion and wariness with bears, elk, and other wild creatures; trips to visit the hidden graves of buffalo soldiers slain during the Apache wars of the nineteenth century; and always the majesty and might of lightning storms and untamed fire. Written with narrative verve and startling beauty, and filled with reflections on his literary forebears who also served as lookouts among them Edward Abbey, Jack Kerouac, Norman Maclean, and Gary Snyder Fire Season is a book to stand the test of time.

Malachy McCourt, bestselling author of A Monk Swimming, shares the extraordinary story of how he went from living the headlong and heedless life of a world-class drunk to becoming a sober, loving father and grandfather, still happily married after thirty-five years.Bawdy and funny, naked and moving, told in the same inimitable voice that left readers all over the world wondering what happened next in A Monk Swimming, Singing My Him Song is "told with the frankness and honesty for which McCourt has become renowned" (New York Daily News).

In this unique biography of Thomas Jefferson, leading journalist and social critic Christopher Hitchens offers a startlingly new and provocative interpretation of our Founding Father. Situating Jefferson within the context of America's evolution and tracing his legacy over the past two hundred years, Hitchens brings the character of Jefferson to life as a man of his time and also as a symbolic figure beyond it.Conflicted by power, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and acted as Minister to France yet yearned for a quieter career in the Virginia legislature. Predicting that slavery would shape the future of America's development, this professed proponent of emancipation elided the issue in the Declaration and continued to own human property. An eloquent writer, he was an awkward public speaker; a reluctant candidate, he left an indelible presidential legacy.Jefferson's statesmanship enabled him to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase with France, doubling the size of the nation, and he authorized the Lewis and Clark expedition, opening up the American frontier for exploration and settlement. Hitchens also analyzes Jefferson's handling of the Barbary War, a lesser-known chapter of his political career, when his attempt to end the kidnapping and bribery of Americans by the Barbary states, and the subsequent war with Tripoli, led to the building of the U.S. navy and the fortification of America's reputation regarding national defense.In the background of this sophisticated analysis is a large historical drama: the fledgling nation's struggle for independence, formed in the crucible of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and, in its shadow, the deformation of that struggle in the excesses of the French Revolution. This artful portrait of a formative figure and a turbulent era poses a challenge to anyone interested in American history -- or in the ambiguities of human nature.

The 1990s saw a shock wave of dynamic new directing talent that took the Hollywood studio system by storm. At the forefront of that movement were six innovative and daring directors whose films pushed the boundaries of moviemaking and announced to the world that something exciting was happening in Hollywood. Sharon Waxman, editor and chief of The Wrap.com and for Hollywood reporter for the New York Times spent the decade covering these young filmmakers, and in Rebels on the Backlot she weaves together the lives and careers of Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction; Steven Soderbergh, Traffic; David Fincher, Fight Club; Paul Thomas Anderson, Boogie Nights; David O. Russell, Three Kings; and Spike Jonze, Being John Malkovich.

Meet Tom Ripple, a man with an uncommon outlook on his common life. Through the vividness of his voice and his growing sense of the sorrow and absurdity of the world, Tom Ripple becomes an unusually appealing antihero, aware of his ordinariness and the limits of his intelligence, with a ribald sense of humor, and a clumsiness in his attempts at emotional connection with others. He is a bewildered everyman navigating his way through modern times. By turns poignant, funny, heartbreaking, and profound, It's All Right Now is a towering achievement and a singular work of the imagination.

Khaliah Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, shares her success at overcoming obesity through banding surgery—a minimally invasive, reversible, and extremely effective choice for drastically overweight peopleWhen Muhammad Ali's daughter Khaliah hit 325 pounds, she didn't need to be told again that she was morbidly obese. A lifetime of dieting, of starving, had not helped. Miserable, depressed, and unable to walk up a flight of stairs without losing her breath, she did not know which way to turn—until a friend pointed her toward a new type of surgery called gastric banding. It is just as effective as gastric bypass but with a fraction of potential complications. With the band placed around her stomach and completely taking away her hunger, Khaliah slimmed down to half her former size. Khaliah wraps her story of weight loss in this memoir of what it was like to grow up the daughter of one of the world's most famous men, and teams up with her surgeons at the New York University Medical Center to detail the lifetime of misery suffered by an obese girl; the ins and outs of the banding operation; and the joy, serenity, and health resulting from a solution that until now had eluded her.

Develop skills to build powerful plug-ins with Eclipse IDE through examples About This Book Create useful plug-ins to make Eclipse work for you Learn how to migrate Eclipse 3.x plug-ins to Eclipse 4.x From automation to testing, find out how to get your IDE performing at an impressive standard Who This Book Is For This book is for Java developers familiar with Eclipse who need more from the IDE. This book will sharpen your confidence and make you a more productive developer with a tool that supports rather than limits you. What You Will Learn Create plug-ins for Eclipse 4.x Test plug-ins automatically with JUnit Display tree and table information in views Upgrade Eclipse 3.x plug-ins to Eclipse 4.x Find out how to build user interfaces from SWT and JFace Run tasks in the background and update the user interface asynchronously Automate builds of plug-ins and features Automate user interface tests with SWTBot In Detail Eclipse is used by everyone from indie devs to NASA engineers. Its popularity is underpinned by its impressive plug-in ecosystem, which allows it to be extended to meet the needs of whoever is using it. This book shows you how to take full advantage of the Eclipse IDE by building your own useful plug-ins from start to finish. Taking you through the complete process of plug-in development, from packaging to automated testing and deployment, this book is a direct route to quicker, cleaner Java development. It may be for beginners, but we're confident that you'll develop new skills quickly. Pretty soon you'll feel like an expert, in complete control of your IDE. Don't let Eclipse define you - extend it with the plug-ins you need today for smarter, happier, and more effective development. Style and approach Packed with plenty of examples so you're never stuck, or never left simply reading instructions, this book encourages you to get started immediately. This book is for developers who want to develop, not just learn.

The book uses stepbystep instructions along with full code listings for each exercise. After each exercise, the author pauses to reflect, explain, and offer insights before building on the project. The author approaches the content with the belief that we are all teachers and that you are reading this book not only because you want to learn, but because you want to share your knowledge with others. Motivated students can pick up this book and teach themselves how to program because the book takes a simple, strategic, and structured approach to learning Scratch. Parents can grasp the fundamentals so that they can guide their children through introductory Scratch programming exercises. It’s perfect for homeschool families. Teachers of all disciplines from computer science to English can quickly get up to speed with Scratch and adapt the projects for use in the classroom.

Get the most out of your Qlik Sense investment with the latest insight and guidance direct from the Qlik Sense team About This Book Updated with new coverage on Qlik Cloud, Qlik Sense Modeling, and Extending the Qlik Analytic Platform. Get insider insight on Qlik Sense and its new approach to business intelligence Explore practical demonstrations for utilizing Qlik Sense to discover data for sales, human resources, and more Who This Book Is For Learning Qlik Sense?: The Official Guide Second Edition is for anyone seeking to understand and utilize the revolutionary new approach to business intelligence offered by Qlik Sense. Familiarity with the basics of business intelligence will be helpful when picking up this book, but not essential. What You Will Learn Understand the vision behind the creation of Qlik Sense, and the promise that data discovery offers to you and your organization Get to grips with the life cycle of a Qlik Sense application Load and manage your data for app creation Visualize your data with Qlik Sense's engaging and informative graphing Administer your Qlik Sense system and monitor its security Build efficient and responsive Associative Models Extend the Qlik Analytic Platform with the Dev Hub Optimize Qlik Sense for sales, human resources, and demographic data discovery In Detail The intuitive and powerful Qlik Sense visual analytics software allows anyone to engage in data discovery, to explore your data, and find meaningful insights to empower your business. Qlik Sense lets you easily create personalized reports and visualizations and reveal essential connections to show new opportunities from every angle. Written by members of the Qlik Sense team, this book is the official guide from Qlik to understanding and using their powerful new product with fully updated coverage to the latest features of the most modern edition of Qlik Sense. Benefit from the vision behind the development of Qlik Sense and get to grips with how Qlik Sense can empower you as a data discovery consumer. Learn how to create your own applications for Qlik Sense to customize it to meet your personal needs for business intelligence, and how to oversee and administer the Qlik Sense data architecture. Finally, explore utilizing Qlik Sense to uncover essential data, with practical examples on finding and visualizing intelligence for sales figures, human resources information, travel expense tracking, and demographic data discovery. Style and approach This book is a practical guide to understand what Qlik Sense is and how to implement it. This is an example-rich, step-by-step book to implement and optimize Qlik Sense for sales, human resources, and demographic data discovery.

Learn to code like a professional with Python – an open source, versatile, and powerful programming language About This Book Learn the fundamentals of programming with Python – one of the best languages ever created Develop a strong set of programming skills that you will be able to express in any situation, on every platform, thanks to Python’s portability Create outstanding applications of all kind, from websites to *ing, and from GUIs to data science Who This Book Is For Python is the most popular introductory teaching language in U.S. top computer science universities, so if you are new to software development, or maybe you have little experience, and would like to start off on the right foot, then this language and this book are what you need. Its amazing design and portability will help you become productive regardless of the environment you choose to work with. What You Will Learn Get Python up and running on Windows, Mac, and Linux in no time Grasp the fundamental concepts of coding, along with the basics of data structures and control flow. Write elegant, reusable, and efficient code in any situation Understand when to use the functional or the object oriented programming approach Create bulletproof, reliable software by writing tests to support your code Explore examples of GUIs, *ing, data science and web applications Learn to be independent, capable of fetching any resource you need, as well as dig deeper In Detail Learning Python has a dynamic and varied nature. It reads easily and lays a good foundation for those who are interested in digging deeper. It has a practical and example-oriented approach through which both the introductory and the advanced topics are explained. Starting with the fundamentals of programming and Python, it ends by exploring very different topics, like GUIs, web apps and data science. The book takes you all the way to creating a fully fledged application. The book begins by exploring the essentials of programming, data structures and teaches you how to manipulate them. It then moves on to controlling the flow of a program and writing reusable and error proof code. You will then explore different programming paradigms that will allow you to find the best approach to any situation, and also learn how to perform performance optimization as well as effective debugging. Throughout, the book steers you through the various types of applications, and it concludes with a complete mini website built upon all the concepts that you learned. Style and approach This book is an easy-to-follow guide that will take you from a novice to the proficient level at a comfortable pace, using a lot of simple but effective examples. Each topic is explained thoroughly, and pointers are left for the more inquisitive readers to dig deeper and expand their knowledge.

Discover all the secrets of Unreal Engine and create seven fully functional games with the help of step-by-step instructions About This Book Understand what a Blueprint is and how to create a complex visual *ing code Discover the infinite possibilities that Unreal Engine offers, and understand which tool to use, where and when Learn to think like a real game developer in order to create enjoyable and bug-free games using this comprehensive and practical handbook Who This Book Is For This book is ideal for intermediate level developers who know how to use Unreal Engine and want to go through a series of projects that will further their expertise. Working knowledge of C++ is a must. What You Will Learn Write clean and reusable Blueprint *s Develop any kind of game you have in mind, following the rules used by experts Move through Unreal Engine 4, always knowing what you are doing and where to find the right tool for your needs Integrate C++ code into your projects using Visual Studio and the tools that Unreal provides Extricate between classes, nodes, interfaces, macros, and functions Work with different types of assets, from 3D objects to audio sources, from UI buttons to animations Explore all the aspects of the game logic—collisions, navigation meshes, matinees, volumes, events, and states In Detail With the arrival of Unreal Engine 4, a new wonderful tool was born: Blueprint. This visual *ing tool allows even non-programmers to develop the logic for their games, allowing almost anyone to create entire games without the need to write a single line of code. The range of features you can access with Blueprint * is pretty extensive, making it one of the foremost choices for many game developers. Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints helps you unleash the real power of Unreal by helping you to create engaging and spectacular games. It will explain all the aspects of developing a game, focusing on visual *ing, and giving you all the information you need to create your own games. We start with an introductory chapter to help you move fluidly inside the Blueprint user interface, recognize its different components, and understand any already written Blueprint *. Following this, you will learn how to modify generated Blueprint classes to produce a single player tic-tac-toe game and personalize it. Next, you will learn how to create simple user interfaces, and how to extend Blueprints through code. This will help you make an informed decision between choosing Blueprint or code. You will then see the real power of Unreal unleashed as you create a beautiful scene with moving, AI controlled objects, particles, and lights. Then, you will learn how to create AI using a behavior tree and a global level Blueprint, how to modify the camera, and how to shoot custom bullets. Finally, you will create a complex game using Blueprintable components complete with a menu, power-up, dangerous objects, and different weapons. Style and approach This is an easy-to-follow guide full of practical game examples. Each chapter contains step-by-step instructions to build a complete game and each game uses a different tool in order to cover all the topics in a detailed and progressive manner.

Over 60 recipes to help you create professional and exquisite UIs to make your games more immersive About This Book Design and develop interactive and professional user interfaces (UIs) for games in Unity Discover how to implement and deal with various in-game UI elements that will impress your players This practical recipe guide will help you to efficiently create powerful and remarkable UIs using C# code Who This Book Is For If you are a game developer with some experience in Unity and C# and want to create the best interactive experience fast and intuitively, then this book is for you. If you are an intermediate game developer or an expert, these recipes will help you bring out the power of the new UI Unity system. What You Will Learn Implement different kinds of counters and healthbars Deal with timers and find out how to format them Animate and vivify UI elements Handle runtime customizations Add complex Head-up displays (HUDs) Design and implement 3D UIs Integrate minimaps in the UI In Detail With the increasing interest in game development, it's essential to design and implement a UI that reflects the game settings and shows the right information to the player. The Unity system is used to create complex and aesthetically pleasing user interfaces in order to give a professional look and feel to a game. Although the new Unity UI system is powerful and quite easy to use, by integrating it with C# *s, it's possible to realize the potential of this system and bring an impressive UI to games.This guide is an invaluable collection of recipes if you are planning to use Unity to develop a game. Starting with the basic concepts of the UI components, we’ll take you all the way through to creating complex interfaces by including animations and dynamics elements. Based on real-world problems, these recipes will start by showing you how to make common UI elements such as counters and healthbars. You will then get a walkthrough of how to manage time using timers, and will learn how to format them. You will move on to decorating and animating the UI elements to vivify them and give them a professional touch. Furthermore, you will be guided into the 3D UI world and into HUD *ing. Finally, you will discover how to implement complex minimaps in the interface.Style and approach Interactive, easy-to-follow recipes will help you create and implement UIs that make gaming an exhilarating experience.

An effective guide to geographic information systems and remote sensing analysis using Python 3 About This Book Construct applications for GIS development by exploiting Python This focuses on built-in Python modules and libraries compatible with the Python Packaging Index distribution system—no compiling of C libraries necessary This practical, hands-on tutorial teaches you all about Geospatial analysis in Python Who This Book Is For If you are a Python developer, researcher, or analyst who wants to perform Geospatial, modeling, and GIS analysis with Python, then this book is for you. Familarity with digital mapping and analysis using Python or another *ing language for automation or crunching data manually is appreciated. What You Will Learn Automate Geospatial analysis workflows using Python Code the simplest possible GIS in 60 lines of Python Mold thematic maps with Python tools Get hold of the various forms that geospatial data comes in Produce elevation contours using Python tools Create flood inundation models Apply Geospatial analysis to find out about real-time data tracking and for storm chasing In Detail Geospatial Analysis is used in almost every field you can think of from medicine, to defense, to farming. This book will guide you gently into this exciting and complex field. It walks you through the building blocks of geospatial analysis and how to apply them to influence decision making using the latest Python software. Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python, 2nd Edition uses the expressive and powerful Python 3 programming language to guide you through geographic information systems, remote sensing, topography, and more, while providing a framework for you to approach geospatial analysis effectively, but on your own terms. We start by giving you a little background on the field, and a survey of the techniques and technology used. We then split the field into its component specialty areas: GIS, remote sensing, elevation data, advanced modeling, and real-time data. This book will teach you everything you need to know about, Geospatial Analysis from using a particular software package or API to using generic algorithms that can be applied. This book focuses on pure Python whenever possible to minimize compiling platform-dependent binaries, so that you don’t become bogged down in just getting ready to do analysis. This book will round out your technical library through handy recipes that will give you a good understanding of a field that supplements many a modern day human endeavors. Style and approach This is a practical, hands-on tutorial that teaches you all about Geospatial analysis interactively using Python.